YouTube Transcript Downloader: Text, SRT & VTT, No API Key

Fetch timestamped YouTube transcripts and captions as clean JSON without any API key or Google login. Supports any URL form: watch links, youtu.be, Shorts, and bare video IDs. Returns segments with start time and duration, a fullText string for RAG ingestion, and character count. Works as an MCP server in Claude, ChatGPT and any AI agent.

Run it on Apify: apify.com/themineworks/youtube-transcript-scraper Docs, FAQ and pricing: themineworks.com/actors/youtube-transcript-scraper

Price: From $1.50 per 1,000 transcripts on Apify's higher plans ($2.50 on the free plan). Failed and empty results are never charged.

What it returns

• No API key or login required
• Timestamped segments with start + duration
• fullText field ready for RAG and LLMs
• Prefers manual captions, falls back to auto-generated
• Works with any YouTube URL format including Shorts

Quick start

You need a free Apify account and its API token (Settings, API & Integrations).

Python

pip install apify-client

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("themineworks/youtube-transcript-scraper").call(run_input={
    "videoUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
    ],
    "language": "en"
})

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

Node.js

npm install apify-client

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('themineworks/youtube-transcript-scraper').call({
    "videoUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
    ],
    "language": "en"
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

cURL

One request that runs the actor and returns the results in the response (for runs under 5 minutes):

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/themineworks~youtube-transcript-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"videoUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"], "language": "en"}'

Command line

This repo includes ready-made clients that save results to JSON and CSV:

python3 youtube_transcript_scraper.py --token YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN --video-urls "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" --language "en"
node youtube_transcript_scraper.mjs --token YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN --video-urls "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" --language "en"

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
videoUrls	array		One or more YouTube videos, one per line
outputFormats	array	["text", "segments"]	Which transcript formats to return on each row
language	string	"en"	Language code of the caption track to prefer, for example en, es, hi, fr or pt
includeTimestamps	boolean	true	When on, rows include the segments array (start time and duration of each line, in seconds) if segments is…

Output

One row per result, as JSON, CSV, Excel or through the API.

Field	Type	Description
videoId	string	The 11-character YouTube video ID
url	string	Canonical watch URL for the video (or the raw input when no video ID could be found)
title	string	Video title, when YouTube returned it
language	string	Language code of the caption track that was used
isAutoGenerated	boolean	True if the caption track is auto-generated by YouTube, false if it was uploaded or written by a person
segmentCount	integer	Number of transcript lines
charCount	integer	Character length of the full transcript text
fullText	string	The whole transcript as one readable string (output format: text)
segments	array	Ordered transcript lines, each { start, dur, text } in seconds (output format: segments, with…
srt	string	The transcript as an SRT subtitle file (output format: srt)
vtt	string	The transcript as a WebVTT subtitle file (output format: vtt)
status	string	ok (transcript returned, charged), no-caption-track or error (not charged), stopped or summary (run…
reason	string	Why a row is not ok, for example no-tracks-listed, video-unavailable, invalid-video-id, bot-check or…
error	string	Plain-language explanation for a row that is not ok
availableLanguages	array	Caption languages the video offers, when the requested one could not be used
message	string	Explanation on a stopped or empty-input row
videosNotAttempted	integer	On a stopped or summary row: videos not processed and not charged
notAttempted	array	On a stopped row: the inputs that were not processed, ready to paste into a new run
scrapedAt	string	ISO timestamp when the row was written

Use it from an AI agent

The actor works as a tool in Claude, Cursor or any MCP client through Apify's MCP server:

https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=themineworks/youtube-transcript-scraper

FAQ

How does it get transcripts without the YouTube API?

YouTube embeds caption track metadata in the watch page HTML inside the ytInitialPlayerResponse object. The actor extracts the timedtext endpoint URL from that response and fetches the caption XML directly. No API key or quota needed.

What happens if a video has no captions?

The actor returns status "no-captions" for that video. You are not charged for videos without captions, only for transcripts actually delivered.

Does it work with auto-generated (ASR) captions?

Yes. When no manual transcript is available it falls back to the auto-generated track. The isAutoGenerated field in the output tells you which was used.

What language is returned?

The actor picks the track that best matches your preferred language. It tries an exact match first, then a language-prefix match (for example "en" matches "en-US"), then the video's default audio language, then the first available track.

How much does the YouTube Transcript Downloader cost?

From $1.50 per 1,000 transcripts on Apify's higher plans ($2.50 on the free plan). Failed and empty results are never charged. You can cap what a single run may spend with the maximum cost setting on Apify.

Can I export the results to CSV or Excel?

Yes. Every run saves to an Apify dataset you can download as JSON, CSV, Excel or XML, or read through the API. The Python and Node clients in this repo also write the results to local files.

Can I run it on a schedule?

Yes. Save your input as a task on Apify and attach a schedule, or call the API from your own cron job. Scheduled runs are billed the same way as manual ones.

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Part of The Mine Works: 151 pay-per-result scrapers with no login and no browser setup on your side.

License

MIT © The Mine Works